Remembering the trailblazers

South Bend police highlight early black officers.

South Bend police highlight early black officers.

February 28, 2006|MAY LEE JOHNSON Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- When officer Lafayette "Dusty" Riddle joined the South Bend Police Department, he probably didn't think about being honored more than 75 years later during Black History Month. A display at the South Bend police station highlights Riddle and other early black officers on the department. Two other officers who may have been hired before or around the same time as Riddle are James Bowen and Albert E. Pope, but police could find little information about those two men. According Tribune files, Pope served 30 years as a city police officer after joining the department July 1, 1935. He then became bailiff for the former city court for four years until Judge Philip C. Potts retired. Pope then joined the city traffic engineer's office, where he worked until 1969. Pope, who served as a patrolman, sergeant and detective during his police career, died in January 1974 at age 71. J. Jerome Perkins also is included as being the first black division chief, having served as the chief of the investigative division. Perkins, 76, who is living in an area nursing home, is the oldest living black South Bend police officer, according to police. He retired from the force in 1972 after about 21 years on the job, according to his grandson, Matthew Adams. Perkins later served as U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Indiana. Riddle was approved to join the department in December 1929. The married father of four listed his former occupation as assistant undertaker. A story in the South Bend Tribune said Riddle was assigned to South Bend's "colored district." A series of stories in 1935 describe how Riddle was dismissed from the force and filed suit to try to get his job back. Riddle claimed he was wrongly terminated for political reasons when Democrats lost control of the city. Riddle failed to get his job back, with news accounts of the time saying he had allegedly falsified his age at the time that he was hired. He didn't like to talk about that difficult period, his daughter said. "I don't know what my dad went through," said Frances Roberts, Riddle's daughter. "My parents never talked to us about his time on the police department, so I'm not sure what he went through." According to South Bend police spokeswoman Teri Lanning, the display at the station was a team effort. "The chief (Thomas Fautz) wanted us to get something together for Black History Month," she said. "So with the help of our black officers, who really helped us gather the information, along with our SBPD historian, we are extremely proud to pay tribute men who overcame what seemed like insurmountable odds to become South Bend Police Department's first." For a longtime black officer like Capt. John Williams, these officers paved the way. "If it was not for these first blacks officers, we wouldn't be here today," he said. "They set the standard, and now it's up to us to live up to them and pave the way for others as well."